Nationwide homeowners who sold during the third quarter of 2015 sold for an average of $40,658 more than what they purchased their home for, translating into an average gain of 17 percent. That was the biggest percentage gain for U.S. home sellers since the third quarter of 2007, according to a recent RealtyTrac report.
The heat map below shows this data at a local level for 171 counties that RealtyTrac analyzed exclusively for Inman Select.
Markets where third quarter home sellers reaped the biggest average profits from price gains since they purchased were led by two counties in the San Francisco area: San Francisco County (58.7 percent average price gain since purchase) and San Mateo County (55.7 percent).
Santa Clara County in the San Jose metro area came in third with an average price gain of 47.7 percent, and Alameda County in the East Bay of the San Francisco metro area came in fourth with an average price gain of 43.1 percent.
Rounding out the top five counties was New York County, New York (Manhattan), with an average price gain of 41.6 percent for homeowners who sold in the third quarter.
Other markets in the top 20 most profitable for home sellers who sold in Q3 included counties in Denver, Portland, Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Homeowners who sold in the third quarter realized average price gains in the majority of U.S. markets (151 out of 171 analyzed by RealtyTrac), but there were some exceptions where sellers on average sold for less than what they had purchased their home for.
Leading those markets with the biggest average losses for home sellers in the third quarter were Pasco County, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metro area (11.1 percent average price loss since purchase), Hamilton County, Ohio, in the Cincinnati metro area (9.4 percent average cent loss), McHenry County, Illinois, in the Chicago metro area (9 percent average loss), Hernando County, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metro area (8.5 percent average loss), and Mobile County, Alabama, in the Mobile metro area (6.8 percent average loss).
Other markets among the 20 where home sellers sold for what they had purchased included counties in the Baltimore, Akron, Ohio, Milwaukee and New Haven Connecticut metro areas, along with counties in the Florida metro areas of Tallahassee, Gainesville and Orlando.
Check the average price gains — or losses — for Q3 2015 home sellers in any of the 171 counties analyzed using the interactive heat map below. Click on any county to view more details.
Daren Blomquist is the vice president of RealtyTrac.
